By Carter Williams
The NFL experienced its longest lockout in the history of the league, but finally reached an agreement that worked for both players and owners. The biggest issue in the NFL lockout this year was the rookie salary cap.
Rookies were being paid substantial amounts before seeing the field once. Sam Bradford of the St. Louis Rams was the number-one selection in the 2010 NFL draft, and signed a 6-year/ $78 million deal before ever playing an NFL game. According to ESPN.com, “The players have been willing to accept a $141 million player cost number — which includes both salaries and benefits paid to players.”
This year’s number-one selection in the NFL draft was Cam Newton of Auburn University. He was selected by the Carolina Panthers, and was projected to agree to a record setting deal that exceeded that of Sam Bradford a year ago. However, due to the new CBA of the NFL, the rookies are only allowed about $35 million, Newton only received a 4 year/ $20 million deal.
The NBA is experiencing a lockout as well. The same problem presents itself in the NBA; the CBA of the league has expired and the owners and players are working on an agreement that works for both sides. The NBA’s biggest issue stems from the problem of a hard cap versus a soft salary cap. Currently, the NBA uses a soft cap, which means that teams can exceed the salary cap of $45 million only when resigning players.
The NBA team owners want to move to a hard cap, meaning that there is no possible way of exceeding the salary cap. If the NBA moved to a hard cap, which would remove the mid-level exception that teams are allowed each year. Once a year, teams are allowed to sign a player of the average NBA salary, usually around $5.8 million, which every team can sign without salary cap rules applying.
Eaton High School’s men’s basketball coach Dean Grable, who follows the NBA season by season, said “I think the owners of the teams don’t have as much power as they should because the players can play professionally overseas until the lockout is over.
The NFL had its lockout and the players had to sacrifice some because they don’t have the luxury of playing in Europe or China, the NFL is the only real pro football league in the world.” Players in the NBA can go overseas and sign with foreign teams while the lockout is going on, so the owners lose leverage in the decision making, and the players lose the sense of urgency to resolve the issues and get back to playing for their NBA team.
ESPN NBA insider Chris Broussard said “If the players and owners do not come to an agreement before November 14, when the NBA is supposed to start operations for the 2011-2012 season, they will miss at least 50 games, and possibly the whole season.”